Bridgewater-Raritan baseball team turns season into gem; Set to play Immaculata tonight at TD Bank Park

Photo by George PaccielloBridgewater-Raritan catcher Brian Murphy at a team practice back in late March.By Pete Winter for The Messenger-Gazette
BRIDGEWATER — The first few games of the high school baseball season didn’t look promising for Bridgewater-Raritan. The Panthers couldn’t strike a balance between pitching and hitting, and it appeared as though they were going to spend the entire season hovering around the .500 mark.

Then came the April 22 game against Skyland Conference foe Franklin, in which the Panthers played a complete game in all phases, getting timely hits from the top of their lineup and wearing down their opponent. Senior pitcher Alex Galasso went the distance and got B-R a much-needed win.

Ever since that day, the Panthers’ momentum has been snowballing, and Head Coach Max Newill now has his team believing it can play with anyone.

Newill is in his third year leading the Panthers, and has already experienced the ups and downs that come with being a head coach. In his first season the Panthers made a Cinderella run in the state tournament when, as the 13th seed, they reached the sectional championship game before losing a heartbreaker to North Hunterdon.

Last spring was a bit of a step back for B-R, which finished well below .500.

This year, though, the Panthers appear to be hitting their stride at just the right time, winning eight of their last nine for a 14-7 overall record entering this week.

Bridgewater-Raritan has had no problem scoring runs during its recent hot streak, but it’s been a solid pitching staff that’s been carrying the load all season. The unit is led by a pair of aces — Galasso and junior Ben Silber.

Galasso and Silber are currently tied for the team lead in wins with four apiece, and Galasso sports a team-leading 1.52 earned run average and three complete games. Silber adds a 2.87 ERA and one complete game. Together, the duo has given B-R quality starts and kept the Panthers in every game.

In addition to Galasso and Silber, Newill also relies heavily on junior Jordan Weinstein and senior Alex Stark. Stark currently stands at 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA while Weinstein is 2-2 with a 3.30 ERA. Both Stark and Weinstein have also chipped in one complete game apiece.

As a whole, the pitching staff is one of the Panthers’ greatest strengths, and they give their coach some much-appreciated consistency on the mound.

“Our four pitchers have been throwing the ball well all year,” Newill said. “They attack opposing hitters and throw a lot of strikes to force contact.”

When your game plan is to pitch to contact, though, a team also needs solid defensive play. And defense is another area Newill feels B-R has improved immensely as the season has progressed.

“We’re starting to play much better defense lately,” he said, “and that’s probably been the main reason for our recent hot streak.”

But if Bridgewater-Raritan wants to continue competing at a high level and make a run in the state playoffs, the coach knows the lineup is going to have to be more consistent at the plate.

“When we’re able to play seven full innings, both in the field and at the plate, we’re a tough team to beat,” Newill added.

The lineup has seen significant contributions from several players. Senior shortstop and captain Jon Guida is hitting .397 with 19 runs batted in and a team-leading four home runs.

Junior outfielder and cleanup hitter Branden Durant is getting the job done as well, with a .450 average and 27 RBI. Junior first basemen Andrew Lyman follows up Durant in the lineup and also adds some pop with his .362 average and 13 RBI, giving the Panthers a dynamic combination in the heart of the order.

As for leadership, the Panthers have relied a lot on Guida, a three-year starter. He has not only been the vocal sparkplug for the team, but also a leader by example, something his coach certainly appreciates.

“Jon does an outstanding job setting the example for our team,” Newill said. “The guys really look up to him and he has shown he can handle the responsibility.”

Despite the recent streak, though, Newill knows there’s always room for improvement. He believes maintaining the Panthers’ focus will be one of the keys in moving forward.

“For us, it’s been more mental than anything else,” he said. “We have to be able to understand situations and make the right plays, and it’s going to be even more important down the stretch.”

That’s been an emphasis for Newill all season, and it’s something he believes can allow the Panthers to continue winning all the way into the playoffs.

“If we can eliminate the mental mistakes and clean up our game, we feel good about our chances,” he said.

With Bridgewater-Raritan’s 10-0 victory over Gill St. Bernard’s in its first Somerset County Tournament game, the fourth-seeded Panthers earned the right to play at Bridgewater’s TD Bank Park — home of the Somerset Patriots — for the semifinals.

The task didn’t figure to be easy, however, for the Panthers as they were scheduled to take on conference rival and No. 1 seed Immaculata tonight, Wednesday, May 12.

The teams have already played twice this season. Immaculata struck first with a 3-0 victory on opening day but the Panthers evened the season series with an 8-3 victory April 29.

Now they were getting the chance to settle it on the field with county bragging rights on the line, as the winner advances to the SCT title game.

As soon as the county tourney wraps up, the Panthers will be setting their sights on another goal — the Group 4 state playoffs.

“We made it to states, so now we have to carry our momentum over and try to make a run there,” Newill said.